


Nice Guys Finish Last

by caimani



Series: Prompts for Werewolf TAI... [7]
Category: The Academy Is...
Genre: Gen, Werewolf Hunters, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 16:57:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11536473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caimani/pseuds/caimani
Summary: 6. ObsessionThere are some people who notice things like werewolves, no matter how hard they try to hide themselves among humans. People with ill intentions.





	Nice Guys Finish Last

**Author's Note:**

> ok warning for references to werewolf trafficking. this takes place shortly after [Hot American Summer](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8054386), but it's the POV of the previously-unnamed hunters

Jesse turns the silver bladed knife slowly in his hands. He’s at his laptop, staring at the most recent fan pictures of The Academy Is… It’s only been a few days since that night, but the werewolves look like they’ve completely recovered. 

Four werewolves. Four. And they slipped right out of his hands.

He shouldn’t have let Ronnie and Greg talk them into immediate action. When Greg’s sister called him to say that there were werewolves ( _wolves, plural_ ) in one of the bands she was seeing with her friend, they had all jumped at the news. They hadn’t been able to track down any wolves for months. They were all feeling frustrated. The chance to capture several at once was so enticing.

And even with six professionals, they got sloppy. Someone must have been with the singer when he came after his wolves. Jesse and the boys weren’t thorough enough, they didn’t move the wolves far enough from the capture point, and they didn’t have the boat waiting at the docks. Too many mistakes, and it cost them all of the wolves.

At least they all got away with their gear, minus the cages. The other bands were more concerned with getting their werewolves back than sticking around to demand answers. They didn’t even stay to make sure the cops caught the guys. As it was, Jesse barely had time to go back and pick up Greg and Ray before the cops figured out where all the noise was coming from. 

And now, the rest of the guys are stewing in the other parts of the workshop. Well, Nathan’s probably back in his silver workroom while Ronnie and Ray assemble more cages. Angel’s probably doing… whatever fucking magic stuff he does now, and Greg’s probably annoying the shit out of everyone. Jesse doesn’t care what they’re all doing, so long as they leave him the hell alone. 

He goes back to a picture of the pretty blond wolf. Skinny little guy with a bass guitar. Adam Siska. God, that one could make them so much goddamn money. Rich bastards somehow care more about how pretty their werewolves are, instead of how big or vicious they are. Jesse still doesn’t really get it, but he doesn’t care. The one and only time he got his hands on a golden brown wolf, she went for almost triple what they usually go for. The man who had outbid everyone for the wolf had told Jesse if he ever found a blond or white werewolf, he’d pay even more for it.

Jesse should have just taken the blond one and left. But no, the guys were all too greedy with the prospect of getting multiple wolves at once. And now they’re paying for that hubris. 

It’s a hard thing to swallow.

“Jesse,” Angel says quietly from behind Jesse, interrupting his frustrated reflections.

Jesse shuts the laptop and spins in his chair to face the door of his office. He’s scowling. Admittedly, he’s not angry with Angel; in fact, Angel’s magic trap had worked flawlessly to catch those other three wolves. But Jesse’s still pissed that, despite all their skills and experience, they lost every wolf to a bunch of fucking musicians.

Angel holds up his hands in a gesture of peace. “Hey, don’t gimme that look. You want, I can get Greg in here. Think Nathan’s gonna tranq him if he don’t shut up soon. We all kinda wanna cut him up and use him for wolf bait.”

Jesse scoffs. “Even wolves ain’t stupid enough to go for an asshole like Greg.”

Angel grins. “There he is. I was wonderin’ when my buddy Jesse was gonna stop sulkin’ and start jokin’ and plottin’ again.”

“Plotting, huh?” Jesse leans back in the chair. 

“Well, yeah?” Angel says. “We ain’t just lettin’ ‘em off like that right?”

Jesse sighs. “No, but we need to do it better next time. Give them plenty of time to think we’ve disappeared so we can catch them unaware. And it can’t be on another fucking tour like this one was. That got too many goddamn people after us.”

Angel leans against the far wall and shakes his head. “Man, I didn’t think their friends would be after us so fast. That’s never happened like that before.”

“So we wait.” Jesse says. He pats the computer on the desk behind him. “Lucky for us, they post all about their tours online. They even say who they’re touring with, so we can avoid running into the same interference.” Jesse pauses as he recalls that unusual moment when he realized he needed to bail. When his gun glowed hot with magic like Angel’s. They’ll need better preventative measures now; not just for humans, but also for witches. 

Jesse continues, “We keep track of where their band is going for a while. Maybe set up a trap for them on a new moon when they can’t fight back. Instead of a full moon when they can’t think straight.”

Angel nods. “Sounds like a plan, boss. So… until then--”

Jesse grins. “Until then, you remember that kid we weren’t sure about? The one going to college in Colorado? His friend posted a video of a wolf running around in the dark last night. Took it down right away, but I already downloaded it. Wanna see?”

Angel gasps and hurries across the room. “Seriously? Man, that’s so fuckin’ lucky.”

Jesse opens the laptop again. He minimizes the window full of tabs monitoring The Academy Is… and opens a video. The camera is shaky and the image is blurry, but the wolf shape that appears for a few brief seconds is unmistakeable. The coloring is unremarkable compared to the beauties that got away, but Jesse’s not picky. Not when he’s fortunate enough to get a confirmed hit on one of the possibles he’s been keeping track of for months. And not when there’s plenty of rich bastards who pay ridiculous amounts of money to own their own werewolf.

As the video replays again and again, Angel says, “It’s always the friends who expose ‘em, ain’t it?”

Jesse shrugs. “Seems like it. Excitement of knowing a fucking monster and not being able to tell everyone. Makes it easy for us.”

Angel raps his knuckles on Jesse’s wooden desk, and tiny red sparks fly from his skin into the wood. “Don’t jinx us, man.”

“Sorry.” Jesse closes the video. “I’ll show the guys in a couple days. Wait ‘til they finish letting off steam and they’ve got their heads back on track. That kid ain’t going nowhere.”


End file.
